Def Leppard - Rocket

This was the first album Def Leppard recorded after their drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in a car accident. Allen used a modified drum kit and was able to construct his drum parts in the studio using overdubs. Performing live was a bigger challenge, but Allen was able to pull it off, using his left foot and programmed fills to make up for his lost appendage.

This song sampled drum beats from the Royal Drummers of Burundi. Lead singer Joe Elliott has explained that they decided to sample the drums as "it would take 16 people playing tom-toms to play the sound live." He'd first heard them on a tape while having a meal on a barge in Holland. The Royal Burundi Drummers are a percussion ensemble from the African country of Burundi, whose hereditary vocation is to play for the Tutsi kings. Beginning in the 1960s they have toured the world. After an album was released a French producer, Michel Bernholc, took one of the tracks, added piano, clavinet and guitar and renamed it "Burundi Black." It became a steady seller and an influence in the early 1980s when Adam Ant, among others, borrowed their style.

Lyrics

Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh White lights, strange city Mad music (All around) Midnight street magic Crazy people (Crazy sound) Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh Jack Flash, rocket man Sergeant Pepper and the band Ziggy, Benny and the Jets Take a rocket, we just gotta fly I can take you thru the center of the dark We're gonna fly On a collision course to crash into my heart I will be your, I will be your, I'll be your Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket baby! C'mon I'll be your satellite of love Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Spotlight magnetic Raise the rhythm (Laser love) Guitar, drums Load up, stun! Ah-ah-ah Ah, ah-ah Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh Jet Black, Johnny B Gene Jeanie, Killer Queen Dizzy Lizzy, Major Tom So c'mon, we just gotta fly I can take you thru the center of the dark We're gonna fly On a collision course to crash into my heart I will be your, I will be your, I'll be your Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket yeah Satellite of love Rocket baby! C'mon We're gonna fly Oh, oh, oh, oh (Countdown commencing...fire one) (Five, four, three, two, one, zero, we have liftoff) We just gotta fly I can take you thru the center of the dark We're gonna fly On a collision course to crash into my heart I will be your, I will be your, I'll be your Rocket, yeah Satellite of love Rocket, yeah Satellite of love Rocket, yeah Satellite of love Guitar, drums, light up We're gonna fly Rocket, yeah Satellite of love We're gonna fly Rocket, yeah Yeah Satellite of love Rocket, yeah